A day after senior Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir was killed in a drone strike, members of his group on Friday nominated a new commander to take his place. Members of Nazir’s organization chose Bahawal Khan, alias Salahuddin Ayubi, as Nazir’s successor. Khan is reportedly a 35 year-old illiterate former bus driver and long-time aide to Nazir. He is reportedly hot-tempered but expected to "maintain the tribal consensus to keep his power base around Wana largely peaceful." Khan is from same Kakakhel sub-tribe of Wazirs as Nazir and has fought with Taliban in Afghanistan before 9/11 as well as in Kashmir. A militant named Taj Muhammad named as the group’s new deputy leader following death of Nazir's deputy Rata Khan in the same strike that killed Nazir. Pakistan’s Foreign Office has refrained from officially verifying Nazir’s death, and a spokesman said Pakistan had once again raised the issue of drone attacks with the U.S.[1]

Pakistani Military

At a Pakistan Army Corps Commanders Conference held on Friday in Rawalpindi, army top brass discussed several topics of importance including a recent offer for peace talks from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the “Pak-Afghan border situation,” internal security in Pakistan, and the verification of voter lists and security for upcoming national polls. All of the army’s principal staff officers were present at the meeting.[2]

Speaking at the Pakistani military’s National Defence University, Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf urged the nation’s “national security institutions” to “redesign and redefine” military doctrine to account for the new threat from militant extremism in Pakistan. He further urged them to improve intelligence gathering techniques and improve coordination with civilian agencies in the fight against terrorism.[3]

Domestic Politics

According to reports, cracks may be appearing in the ruling coalition as members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) have asked the party’s leadership to break with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ahead of upcoming national elections. The PML-Q’s leader, Chaudhry Shujaat told members at a meeting on Thursday, however, that the party planned on continuing its coalition with the PPP government.[4]

Refuting earlier reports that the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) was looking to part ways with the ruling PPP-led coalition, MQM leader Altaf Hussain called President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday night and assured him of the MQM’s support for the government and the PPP.[5]

The MQM has filed a petition in the Supreme Court requesting that the court grant an exemption for party leader Altaf Hussain to appear in court on January 7. The court issued a contempt of court notice to Hussain on December 14 for statements he had made and summoned him in front of the bench to explain himself. Hussain lives in London in self-exile.[6]

Militancy

Helicopter gunships shelled several areas in North Waziristan on Thursday, killing three people and injuring four more, and destroying several houses. The local administration imposed a curfew in the area and began a search operation after a soldier and a civilian were killed and four others injured in a bomb blast targeting a Frontier Works Organisation vehicle. Elsewhere in the agency, seven unidentified bodies were found in Miram Shah on Razmak road.[7]

Abid Naseer, a Pakistani suspected of being an al Qaeda operative was extradited from the U.K. to the U.S. on Thursday. Naseer is wanted by U.S. authorities for providing material support to al Qaeda and conspiring to use explosive materials.[9]

A suspect believed to be responsible for the recent killing of seven charity workers in Swabi district was killed in a shootout with police on Friday. The suspect reportedly blew himself after running out of ammunition following a gunfight in Maneri Bala, Swabi. The suspect’s accomplice managed to escape.[10]

Polio vaccination teams resumed work in Charsadda district on Thursday following a series of attacks on health workers over the past weeks. The teams’ women volunteers refused to take part in the anti-polio drives due to the security situation, however. The health workers were escorted door-to-door by security personnel.[11]

A bomb planted close to an electricity tower killed two people in Badaber, Peshawar on Friday. One person was killed and three injured by two remote-controlled bombs in the Hassanzai Darra market area in Lower Orakzai agency. The house of a former Inter-Services Intelligence agent was damaged in a bomb blast in Lund Khwar on Wednesday night.[12]

A cleric was shot dead by unknown gunmen inside a mosque in Shah Mansoor village, Swabi district on Wednesday night.[13]

Unknown gunmen shot and injured a tradesman in the Pashtunabad area of Quetta, Balochistan on Thursday.[14]

Three dead bodies showing signs of torture and execution were found in different parts of Karachi on Friday. Police say the bodies were recovered from Baldia Town, Sher Shah and Native Jetty. Elsewhere, three people were shot dead by unknown assailants in Esa Nagri and a fourth was shot in Baldia number 8, new Saeedabad.[15]

Foreign Relations

Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Sherry Rehman wrote in an op-ed on Thursday that Pakistan was working with the U.S. to facilitate peace efforts in Afghanistan. She also emphasized Pakistan’s desire to move the two countries’ bilateral relationship from “aid to trade.” The ambassador said Pakistan sought “greater market access to the US.” Rehman also expressed common cause with the U.S. in stemming the flow of bomb material from Pakistan to insurgents in Afghanistan.[16]

After delaying granting India Most Favored Nation (MFN) status, sources in the government claim India will finally be bestowed MFN status next week. They also report that Pakistan will eliminate a “negative list” of tradable goods, and that an update was expected on January 9.[17]

Domestic Issues

The Abbottabad Commission responsible for investigating the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan reportedly submitted its full and final report on the incident to Pakistan’s prime minister.[18]

Malala Yousufzai, the young anti-Taliban activist shot by militants in Swat, was released from hospital on Friday following treatment for her gunshot wounds in London. Yousufzai is still due to undergo reconstructive cranial surgery in late January of February.[19]